Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I understand that Mr. Halappanavar and his legal representative expected to have a copy of the report last week and I cannot understand why that did not happen. It has been leaked subsequently and I can only guess at the motivation of those who leaked the report; none of us here can conclude on that. However, we know that the distress the family is experiencing is only one episode in chapter after chapter of distress visited on them not only by the loss of a wife and daughter but by the absolute ineptitude and insensitivity of the system in dealing with this matter.

What does all of this say to women when we consider it? What does it say when it is generations before we can deal with the issue of the Magdalen laundries? It has been decades since the X case and we are still waiting on legislation which, as everyone in the House knows, is necessary not to create some sort of liberal abortion regime but to ensure that pregnant women are safe and that if a pregnant woman's life is in danger, medics or administrators do not have the option of looking the other way. From what has been leaked - we have only partial information - it appears that this is what happened in the case of Savita Halappanavar. Her husband has said as much on the record consistently. He should have a copy of the report immediately. It is not sustainable for the Minister to say that it should be withheld until the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, sees it.

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